Harmonicas

ABSTRACT

A round harmonica comprises a casing; a circular reed assembly mounted for rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly having a number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that any selected reed chamber, or group of reed chambers, is brought into alignment with at least one passage in the mouthpiece. The reed assembly is turned by hand by means of a driving gear coupled with a driven gear on the reed assembly, the gear ratio (preferably 2:1) being such that the reed assembly turns faster than the driving gear.

United States Patent inventor Shin-hua Tsui 5, Ming-Weng, 2nd LaneHsin-Hsing, Taiwan, China Appl. No. 31,989 Filed Apr. 27, 1970 PatentedNov. 9, 1971 Priority May 1, 1969 Great Britain 22,378/69 HARMONICAS 6Claims, 16 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 84/377 lnt.Cl 610d 7/12 Field of Search... 84/375, 377, 378, 379

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 329,420 10/1885 Wier 84/377Fahrni 84/377 Goldstein et al.... 84/375 X Meyers 84/377 Tsui 84/377Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R.Franklin Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack PATENTEDNmI swan 8.619.471

- sum 3 BF 7 whmzizv PATENTEDNIN 9 Ian 3.619.471

' sum 7 or 7 HARMONICAS The invention relates to harmonicas and inparticular to the round kind of harmonica described in the specificationof my British Pat. No. 974,546. That specification shows a harmonicawith a mouthpiece which is fixed and a circular reed assembly which isrotatable to bring different reed chambers therein into alignment withone or more air passages in the mouthpiece. The present invention seeksto provide improvements in such a harmonica.

According to the present invention there is provided a harmonicacomprising a casing; a mouthpiece formed with one or more reed passages;a circular reed assembly mounted for rotation about its axis within thecasing, the reed assembly having a number of circumferentially spacedreed chambers arranged so that any selected reed chamber, or group ofreed chambers, is brought into alignment with said passage or passagesby rotation of the reed assembly; a driving gear which is rotatable byhand; and a driven gear fixed to the reed assembly coaxially with thereed assembly, the driven gear being coupled with the driving gear so asto rotate faster than the driving gear. With this arrangement therotation of the reed assembly is made more responsive to manualmanipulation, so that rapid changes of notes may be made more easily.Furthermore, no knob need be provided on the reed assembly itself andthis allows a complete revolution of the assembly to be made and reedchambers may be distributed all the way around the assembly. This allowsthe harmonica to be more compact for a given number of reed chambers.

Conveniently the velocity ratio of the driven gear to the driving gearis 2:1, so that a complete revolution of the reed assembly is achievedby rotating the driving gear through 180 only.

Preferably the driving gear has a knob fixed to it which projectsoutside the casing and whereby it is rotatable.

The driving and driven gears may both be gear wheels having gear teethwhich project radially outwardly. In one embodiment of the inventionwith this arrangement the gears are mounted to rotate about differentaxes and are meshed directly together, the driving gear being larger indiameter than the driven gear. In another embodiment the two gears aremounted to rotate about the same axis, namely the axis of the reedassembly, and a pair of idler cogs fixed together and rotatable aboutanother axis mesh respectively with the driving gear and the drivengear.

However, in preferred embodiments of the invention the driving gear is aspur gear coaxial with the reed assembly and the driven gear is coupledthereto through intermediate gearing comprising a pair of pinions fixedto rotate together on a pinion shaft the position of which is fixed withrespect to the casing, one pinion meshing with the driving gear and theother pinion meshing with the driven gear.

The harmonica may have only one reed assembly or it may have a secondreed assembly mounted coaxially adjacent the first. Conveniently thefirst reed assembly is for solo notes and has a velocity ratio withrespect to the driving gear of 2: I. The second reed assembly, ifprovided, is preferably for playing chords and the reed chambers arearranged in appropriate groups of three, the velocity ratio of thesecond reed assembly with respect to the driving gear being 6:1.

The invention will further be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a plan view and a front elevation of afirst embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a section taken at 111-111 ofFlG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section taken at 1V--lV of FIG. 2;

FIG. Sis a section taken at V--V of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are respectively a plan view and a front elevation of asecond embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a section taken at VIII-V111 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a section taken at 1X-1X of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a section taken at X-X ofFIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a section taken at XI-Xl ofFIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a section taken at X1 1--X11 of FIG. 7;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are respectively cross-sectional plan and sideelevations of a third embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 15 and 16 are respectively cross-sectional plan and sideelevations of a fourth embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5 there is shown a harmonica comprising a casinghaving two 7-1 casing members 1 and 2 fixed together with their rimsabutting by means of a bolt 3 passing axially therethrough and a nut 4thereon. A mouthpiece 5 is glued to member 1.

Mounted to rotate within the casing is a circular reed assembly 6 whichcomprises an upper plate 70 and a lower plate 7b defining a number ofcircumferentially spaced reed chambers 8 each of which is divided into ablowing subchamber 6-1 having a blowing reed such as 9 which sounds whenair is blown from the subchamber past a flap valve 10, and a drawingsubchamber 7-] having a drawing reed such as 11 which sounds when air isdrawn into the subchamber past a flap valve 12. Mouthpiece 5 is dividedby partitions such as 5-1 into three passages 5-2, 5-3 and 5-4 soarranged that three adjacent notes can be played at one time for chordplaying. The inhale notes (I) and the exhale notes (E) are shown in thedrawings for each reed chamber.

The reed assembly is rotated in the housing in order to play selectednotes by means of a driven gear 13 fixed to the reed assembly andmounted to rotate freely on a bushing 2-1. Gear 13 meshes with pinion 16which is fixed on a pinion shaft 17 which is fixed in position butallowed to turn in a plate 18 of the casing. A second pinion 19 is alsofixed on the pinion shaft and meshes with the teeth of a driving spurgear 20. Gear 20 has a knob 15 fixed to it, whereby it is turned by handto rotate the reed assembly. The velocity ratio of the driven gear 13 tothe driving gear 20 is 2:1, the driven gear rotating twice as fast asthe driving gear.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 to 12 there is shown an embodiment of theinvention similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 but with the addition ofa second rotatable reed assembly. The reed assemblies are shown at 21and 22 mounted one above the other and the mouthpiece 5 has anadditional passage 5-5 for playing solo notes on the upper reed assembly22. The lower reed assembly 21 is for playing chords and has the reedchambers arranged musically in chords of three adjacent notes. The notesof the reeds are shown in the drawing.

Reed assembly 22 is mounted on a sleeve 23 which has a driven gear 13thereon coupled to spur gear 20 which is turned by means of the knob 15.The coupling is effected by gears 16 and 19 on pinion shaft 17 as inFIGS. 1 to 5, and the velocity ratio is again 2:1.

Reed assembly 21 rotates freely about sleeve 23 and is provided with adriven gear 24 which is also coupled to spur gear 20. The coupling iseffected by means of a pair of pinions 25, 26 mounted on a pinion shaft27. This coupling gives a velocity ratio of 6:1, so that the assembly 21moves six times as fast as the driving gear 20. This arrangement givesthe facility for rapid changes of solo note and accompanying chord.

Referring now to FIGS. 13 and 14 there is shown a further embodiment ofthe invention in which there is a single rotatable reed assembly 28 inthe casing, the assembly being turned by cooperation of a driven gear 13thereon with a driving gear 14. Gear 14 rotates about an axis 14a and isturned by the knob 15 fixed thereto. The full rotational range of thereed assembly of almost 360 is given by turning the driving gear 14through an angle of rather less than 180.

Referring now to FIGS. 15 and 16 there is shown an embodiment of theinvention similar in many respects to that shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. Theprincipal differences are that firstly the harmonica is for playing solonotes, the mouthpiece 5 having only one passage communicating with onereed chamber. Secondly, the arrangement of the gearing between knob 15and the reed assembly is different. The reed assembly has fixed to it adriven gear 13 which is mounted freely on bushing 2-1. This gear mesheswith a larger gear 13a mounted on an idler shaft 29. Fixed to gear isanother gear 13b which meshes with the driving gear 14 to which knob 15is attached. The ratios of the idler gear diameter with respect to thoseof the driven gear 13 and the driving gear 14 are such that the overallgear ratio between the latter two gears is 2:1. Knob 15 is rotatable byhand through an angle of substantially 180 so that the reed assembly isrotatable through substantially 360.

lclaim:

l. A harmonica comprising a casing; a mouthpiece formed with passagemeans having at least one reed passage; a circular reed assembly mountedfor rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly havinga number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that anyselected reed chamber can be brought into alignment with said passagemeans, by rotation of the reed assembly; a driving gear which isrotatable by hand; and a driven gear fixed to the reed assemblycoaxially with the reed assembly, the driven gear being coupled with thedriving gear so as to rotate faster than the driving gear.

2. A harmonica as claimed in claim 1 wherein the velocity ratio of thedriven gear to the driving gear is 2: l.

3. A harmonica as claimed in claim 2 wherein the reed chambers aredistributed all the way around the reed assembly, a complete revolutionof the reed assembly being achieved by rotating the driving gear through180 only.

4. A harmonica as claimed in claim 1 wherein the driving gear is a spurgear coaxial with the reed assembly and the driven gear is coupledthereto through intermediate gearing comprising a pair of pinions fixedto rotate together on a pinion shaft the position of which is fixed withrespect to the casing, one pinion meshing with the driving gear and theother pinion meshing with the driven gear.

5. A harmonica as claimed in claim 4 wherein there is provided a secondreed assembly mounted adjacent the first and coaxial therewith; themouthpiece has at least one separate passage for each reed assembly; andthe second reed assembly has a driven gear thereon which is coupled tothe driving spur gear by means of a second pair of pinions fixed torotate together on a second pinion shaft the position of which is fixedwith respect to the casing, one pinion of the second pair meshing withthe driving gear and the other meshing with the driven gear.

6. A harmonica as claimed in claim 5 wherein there is a single passagein the mouthpiece for the first reed assembly, which is for playing solonotes, and a triple passage in the mouthpiece for the second assembly,which is for playing chords, the reeds of the reed chambers of thesecond assembly being appropriately arranged in groups of three, and thevelocity ratio of the first driven gear with respect to the driving gearis 2:1 whereas the velocity ratio of the second driven gear with respectto the driving gear is 6: l.

i i i i

1. A harmonica comprising a casing; a mouthpiece formed with passagemeans having at least one reed passage; a circular reed assembly mountedfor rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly havinga number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that anyselected reed chamber can be brought into alignment with said passagemeans, by rotation of the reed assembly; a driving gear which isrotatable by hand; and a driven gear fixed to the reed assemblycoaxially with the reed assembly, the driven gear being coupled with thedriving gear so as to rotate faster than the driving gear. means
 2. Aharmonica as claimed in claim 1 wherein the velocity ratio of the drivengear to the driving gear is 2:1.
 3. A harmonica as claimed in claim 2wherein the reed chambers are distributed all the way around the reedassembly, a complete revolution of the reed assembly being achieved byrotating the driving gear through 180* only.
 4. A harmonica as claimedin claim 1 wherein the driving gear is a spur gear coaxial with the reedassembly and the driven gear is coupled thereto through intermediategearing comprising a pair of pinions fixed to rotate together on apinion shaft the position of which is fixed with respect to the casing,one pinion meshing with the driving gear and the other pinion meshingwith the driven gear.
 5. A harmonica as claimed in claim 4 wherein thereis provided a second reed assembly mounted adjacent the first andcoaxial therewith; the mouthpiece has at least one separate passage foreach reed assembly; and the second reed assembly has a driven gearthereon which is coupled to the driving spur gear by means of a secondpair of pinions fixed to rotate together on a second pinion shaft theposition of which is fixed with respect to the casing, one pinion of thesecond pair meshing with the driving gear and the other meshing with thedriven gear.
 6. A harmonica as claimed in claim 5 wherein there is asingle passage in the mouthpiece for the first reed Assembly, which isfor playing solo notes, and a triple passage in the mouthpiece for thesecond assembly, which is for playing chords, the reeds of the reedchambers of the second assembly being appropriately arranged in groupsof three, and the velocity ratio of the first driven gear with respectto the driving gear is 2:1 whereas the velocity ratio of the seconddriven gear with respect to the driving gear is 6:1.